This invention relates in general to automobile accessories and, more particularly, to a body side molding designed to protect a vehicle from damage resulting from the swinging of a vehicle door into the side of the protected vehicle.
Some vehicle owners go to great lengths in an attempt to protect their vehicle from being damaged by individuals opening the doors on adjacently parked automobiles. For example, the owner may park the vehicle far away from or at an angle to other automobiles or the owner may utilize two marked parking slots instead of one. Despite even the most extensive of such precautions, the vehicle will invariably receive a "door ding" as a result of an inconsiderate or inattentive person opening the door on an adjacently parked car or truck.
Automobile and after-market accessory manufacturers have utilized resilient body side moldings in an attempt to protect vehicles from acquiring door dings. Unfortunately, the presence of such moldings may actually contribute to the incidence of door dings because drivers or passengers exiting vehicles may assume that the molding will adequately protect the adjacent vehicle. The individuals are thus likely to allow their doors to swing into the vehicle with a greater force than they otherwise might if the adjacent vehicle were unprotected or if damage were likely to result to their own car.
Sometimes even the most attentive and considerate individuals will allow their door to lightly contact an adjacently parked vehicle because they assume that the molding will absorb the contacting force and will protect the vehicle. However, due to the different sizes and configurations of vehicles, the molding is often located in a position which does not offer protection from doors on certain vehicles. If the opening door should hit the other vehicle side panel instead of the molding, even a small impact force may scratch or chip the paint or otherwise damage the vehicle. Moreover, even if the automobile molding is properly positioned to receive the impact from the door being opened, the impact force may be large enough to damage the molding and possibly the underlying vehicle body as well.